Triumph Over Struggle
by RangerNinja
Summary: A very late 9/11 One-Shot. May have a companion eventually. Percy and Annabeth have moved on and now live in Downtown Manhattan. Everything is going well, more than well, for the Jacksons, until a disaster like no other strikes. Percy-centric. Suspenseful, yet sweet. PLEASE READ!


**Hello, everyone! I'm back!**

**I know 9/11 was a while back, but it took me longer than expected to finish this, so I hope this is an enjoyable story.**

**I don't own Percy Jackson.**

* * *

Percy stood up and glanced at the clock. The bell was due to ring soon, summoning a swarm of energetic middle schoolers into his classroom, alert and ready after their first hour classes. Percy loved having a first hour planning period; no snoozing students, thus less paperwork to fill out.

Teaching at a middle school had not been at the top of Percy's list of priorities twelve years ago. Back then, all he cared about was fending off monsters and keeping his friends safe. However, since the Doors were closed and Gaea defeated, Percy had settled down in Manhattan, married the love of his life, Annabeth Chase-Jackson, and moved into a small, cozy apartment. It had the perfect view of the water and the World Trade Center. Life was slow, but after trekking through Tartarus, peace was all he could wish for.

Percy looked around his classroom, attempting to remember the names of the students in his second hour class. It was already September, but Percy still struggled with the names of all of his students. However, there was one exception, Elena, who had earned the nickname "Decaf" in credit to her crazy behavior. Percy honestly would not have been surprised if she was a daughter of Aphrodite. On the board, he noticed the date, _September 11, 2001, _written in Annabeth's sharp, yet swift handwriting. She had come to work with him early that morning to help him carry a diorama of the ocean floor for his Elective Oceanology class. Percy had argued at first, still tender about the five week old child in Annabeth's slightly bulging belly, but she ignored his comments and insisted on helping him out.

Annabeth found a job as an architect with a commercial company, housed in the 65th floor of the second Twin Tower. Since the Jacksons had yet to make a stable living, Annabeth decided to stay commercial for a while before moving off to start her own architecture business. Her dream was still a way off, especially with a little son or daughter on the way.

The bell rang, signalling second hour. Percy wrote a few vocabulary words up on the board as the students began entering the room. _Independent Variable, Dependent Variable, Hypothesis, The Scientific Method._ Percy was pleased to see his pupils open their notebooks, defining the words while chatting and laughing among themselves. Second hour was loud, but they managed to keep the highest GPA among his classes.

Decaf closed her notebook and turned around, sitting backwards in her chair. "Mr. Jackson?"

"What do you want, now?" Percy replied in mock annoyance.

"Why do you like being a teacher?"

Percy grinned evilly. "Because I like yelling at kids."

Elena shot the grin back. "What about... when you have kids?"

The question took Percy by surprise. He had yet to tell his students that his wife was expecting since she hadn't had her first ultrasound until a few days ago. The first appointment had been two days ago. He remembered seeing tears in Annabeth's eyes as they saw their son or daughter for the first time. He remembered feeling some of his own tears forming as well. Percy had a great idea.

"It'll happen when it happens," he replied, but Elena would not give up.

"Would you like to have a child?"

"It'll happen when it happens.

"But-"

"Do you have your vocab words defined?"

Decaf put on a pouting face and opened her notebook, slowly taking the notes off the board. Percy went to his computer. Minimizing the file he had on his screen, he revealed his secret. His backdrop was a picture of the ultrasound, a distinct figure of a baby. The classroom fell silent. He saw Decaf's face brighten, realizing what the picture meant.

"OMG, is that... for real?!"

Percy smiled in pride, nodding confirmation. Half of the students jumped up out of their seats, asking questions and giving out congratulations. He quickly hushed them and got them back in their seats. His ADHD mind was getting claustrophobic.

"Okay, so now that is over..." He pulled up a YouTube file from the bottom of the screen. "We will be reviewing the Scientific Method for our lab tomorrow. So try to sit and listen quietly." He then added, "You may sing along if you like."

Percy started the video, a parody of Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" about the scientific method. It was incredibly cheesy, but it seemed to help the students.

_Got a little problem,_

_It's messing with my head,_

_Got to do some research,_

_Make a hypothesis._

_Run a test together,_

_Is it unanimous?_

_Analyze the data_

_and conclude with finesse._

_Method Method Method_

_on you!_

_Chillin' in the class the Method is what we do,_

_Makes sense to me, but I don't know abou-_

The ground began shaking under Percy's feet. A deep rumbling noise sounded from what felt like down the hall. He immediately got under his desk.

"Get down!" Percy shouted with great haste, "Earthquake!"

He was proud to see his students under their chairs in an instant, but, just as soon as the quake started, it stopped. "Stay down!" Percy yelled as his students began standing up. He got up and examined his students. They were flustered, but safe. He opened the door, listening in confusion to the announcement.

"Teachers, please tune your SmartBoards to the news. Keep your students calm and stay in your rooms."

I turned off the scientific method song and turned on the news. It took me a few moments to understand what the news reporter was saying.

"...small plane struck the top floor of the first Twin Tower just a few moments ago. We are attempting to find the source of the plane, but its origin is still unknown. At this moment, there is no damage to the second tower and survivors are getting out of the lowest floors..."

Mouths dropped open in shock as live videos flashed onscreen. Pummels of smoke and fire were sent into the sky, visible for miles. The shocked silence was broken by a terrible cry of grief.

"Dad! My dad is in there!" Percy recognized the voice of a girl named Jessica. She had hopped out of her seat and was rushing to the door. She would have made it if Percy hadn't blocked her way. The classroom burst out in loud noise, some complaining, some soothing, and several tears. Of course, Percy started freaking out. The reason he took a middle school position was so he would not be in a room full full of crying children.

_If only Annabeth were here._

At that moment, another loud bang rang through the sky. The ground rumbled just as it had before, and the class screamed out in horror. Percy's eyes whipped to the screen. He froze. The second tower was aflame, set ablaze by the same horror that had taken out the first tower.

Terrorists.

Silence swallowed room. Teenage eyes slowly turned towards Percy. They all knew that his wife was in that tower...and that he was a soon-to-be father.

Percy's vision blurred. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach. The plane had hit the 78th floor. Annabeth was on the 65th. Percy barely noticed that he had sat down and picked up the telephone.

"Mr. Jackson? Are you alright?" Elena's voice barely broke through his consciousness. Percy nodded slowly and dialed the office. He didn't even remember what he said, but a substitute came and relieved him. Percy noticed nothing, acknowledged no one, until he got home. The ground was covered in soot and the air was thick with smoke. Percy rushed to the door of his small apartment. Praying, hoping, he turned the key.

Annabeth and Percy had arranged that, in case of an emergency, they would meet up at home, even if the sky was falling and the world was ending. He turned the knob slowly, gathering up his nerve. Finally, he flung the door open, hearing the hinges echoing through an empty space.

"Annabeth?" His voice croaked, hopeless, knowing there would be no reply.

Nothing came.

Percy collapsed on the couch and let the stress from the day sink into the cushions. He flipped on the television.

"Survivors are spilling out of the towers...first responders are on the scene...It looks like this was not an accident..." His mind tuned out most of the random gibberish coming from the reporter's mouth until...

"There it goes! Oh my God, oh my God, the tower is collapsing! The second tower is collapsing!" He watched out his window in horror as the tower and his family crashed to the ground.

The dam broke. All of the fear he had contained came out through tears. Percy threw his face into his hands and felt no motivation to get up. " Why me!" He pleaded to the gods, "I do everything for you! I fight your battles! I protect your children! I even took a hike through Tartarus to close the Doors of Death for _you, _yet, you are so selfish, you do nothing, absolutely _nothing _for me!"

Percy didn't remember how long he sat there, cursing the gods. He heard the first tower fall and thought nothing of it. He was lost in his own grief. He didn't care. He felt alone. He was alone.

His mind barely registered the door flying open. A flash of blonde hair turned grey with soot, usually sparkling grey eyes, now dull and lifeless, and a sweet voice that said,

"Percy?"

* * *

Percy closed his eyes, enjoying this serene moment: eggs in the pan, coffee in the pot, and no crying. His gaze wandered to his daughter, sleeping in her swing after an early morning bottle. He flipped the eggs off of the pan, taking a large bite out of one. Today was the last day of school, possibly Percy's favorite day of the year.

Annabeth drowsily plodded out of the bedroom, yawning and smiling, seeing her husband with his hair all ruffled like usual and his NYU t-shirt on all professional-like. He was her love. She was his love, and they never wanted to lose each other again.

"Morning," said Percy, wrapping his wife in a soft hug. She gave into his embrace, closing her eyes in content. The previous night had been rough. Olyvia had shown no mercy when it came to sleeping. By the time Percy's alarm clock had gone off, he had gotten a grand total of four hours rest. Anyhow, the son of Poseidon still managed to get his sleepy behind out of bed and make breakfast for Annabeth and Olyvia.

Olyvia was born on a chilly April day in downtown Manhattan. It was long and tiring, but, after eight hours, Annabeth and Percy Jackson were mother and father to a baby girl, Olyvia Bianca Jackson. Ever since Percy laid eyes on the little angel, he knew she would be spoiled rotten. Sally and Paul simply adored her and came over when they got the chance. They had already committed to babysitting as soon as Annabeth was back at work and Percy was back at school. Athena and Poseidon found Olyvia to be the one thing they could actually agree upon and love together, considering Athena still wasn't Percy's biggest fan. They visited from time to time, yet rarely together.

"How'd you sleep?" Percy asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "How do you think?" Annabeth replied. She scooped up a hefty serving of eggs and bacon onto her plate, and Percy settled for a large stack of blue pancakes. They finally settled down at the table. They ate in comfortable silence.

"So, are you bringing Olyvia up to the picnic this afternoon?" Annabeth smiled.

"So long as I get to meet the infamous second hour."

Percy grinned. There were several happy... and not so happy memories associated with second hour. First of all, they were the most outgoing and fun-loving group of kids he had ever worked with. On Halloween, they pulled a major prank on him that involved fake spiders, cobwebs, and a bucket of goo. Later that year, One of his second hour students brought up the name Olivia while discussing the baby. They had changed the name to Olyvia and Ta Da! Baby's new name! In April, Percy had gotten the call that his daughter was being born two weeks early during second hour (Of course, he found a video of his freaking out on Facebook just an hour later). And, most memorable, the Towers.

The memory was still fresh in his mind. Every time he walked outside, he saw the ashes, he smelt the smoke, he heard the screams all over again. But, if there was one thing he had learned from being a demigod, it was to let the past be the past and just keep walking on. Huh, easier said than done.

"Of course!" Percy replied, taking his daughter out of her swing. "They have just been dying to meet her."

Olyvia smiled her little baby smile, gurgling up at her father with sparkling grey eyes. He smoothed a crazy piece of black hair back on her little head. Percy handed Olyvia off to her mother.

"I've got to get going," Percy started, "Don't want to be fired on my last day."

Annabeth helped Percy make sure he had everything before sending him off with a kiss. As Percy pulled out of the driveway, he smiled. So much had happened in the last year, good and bad. Yet, his daughters smiling face brought back the good days. She was his triumph over struggle.

* * *

**What do you think? This actually a lot like my science class. I had a girl nicknamed "Decaf" in my class, and the teacher was a lot like Percy. Well, this was cool- my first PJO HoO fanfic!**

**I don't own the Scientific Method song...**

**Also, I was hoping to start a new series that is centered around Elena. What do you guys think? Leave comments!**

**R&R**

**~RangerNinja**


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